It WAS a mistake accepting that dance from Alex Jefferson she realized. She thought it was only a dance but was she wrong! Ever since that night Sonja has treated her even worse than before. She would find means and ways to degrade and lashed out at Aida for the tiniest mistakes. To make matter worse the next couple of days she kept receiving roses from Alex. There were no messages just his initial, A.J on the cards. That made Sonja even more livid.
Aida suffered silently from Sonja's unreasonable behaviour. She was angry with Sonja yet she dare not retaliate. After all she was the hot property of La Broadway and she was sure even the director and producer would not want to antagonize her. She was angry with Alex Jefferson and his silly flowers and she has no way in contacting him to tell him to stop sending her flowers and mostly angry with herself for accepting that stupid dance. And SHE was angry with Greg because after that night and what with the flowers, Greg had seemed somewhat act cooler towards her. Sometimes she thought Greg might have like her a lot more than just a friend. But Greg has never really made any moves towards her or even expressed it. If Greg were really to like her then he was sure clever enough to hide it well from her. She does like Greg. He was funny, helpful, loving to his sister and decent looking. Come to think about it, the odd thing she noticed was he never actually had a girlfriend apart from her. He treated all the female crews and casts nicely but you wouldn't catch him flirting with one. He always seem to put the females at arm length should they even show a hint of liking him. Aida had even tried non-too successfully to get some answers out of Wendy. But Wendy would evade the issue about her brother's personal life and change the subject.
The following weeks there were no more flowers from Alex Jefferson and she heaved a sigh of relief and it seems that Sonja had cool down. A month later, this morning, like all other mornings, she and Greg has drove down to the theatre for their usual rehearsal. But something was not right. There were police cars in front and back of the theatre. Greg parked his car and no sooner both of them were out of the car, two police officers approached them.
"What is your purpose here?" asked one of the officers.
"We worked here. We are both actors," answered Greg.
"May we see some identification please?"
Greg handed over his driving-license while Aida fished out her EAD for the officers. After checking their credentials, the police officers nod to each to other. Greg was handed back his driving license but has kept hold of Aida's EAD.
"Would you follow us please maam?" one of the police officer said.
Aida was confused and looked to Greg for support.
"What's going on, officer?" Greg asked.
Without answering Greg, the police officer grabbed hold of Aida's forearm and non-too gently pulled her back stage. There the director, crews and casts had assembled. She was being led to her dressing room, which she shared with some other girls.
"Detective, this is she. Aida Gonzalez," the officer that was holding her announced to a large man with his back towards her seemingly holding some stuffs in his hand. He turned around and she saw a slightly balding man with sleepy eyes looking down at her small frame. In his hand he was holding a big packet of white substance that looked very much like flour. Cold spread throughout her body and she shivered slightly. She don't like any of this one bit. Her instinct told her something is very wrong here and it involved her.
"Miss Gonzalez, I am Detective Hudson. Is this your locker?" the large man asked her
Aida could only nod.
"We found this in your locker. You know what this is?"
Aida shook her head too afraid too speak. Meanwhile the officer who was holding her handed her EAD to Detective Hudson. He looked at it and handed it back to the officer.
"Have you made a run on her yet?"
"Yeah Burns made a run. No previous criminal records."
Upon hearing the word criminal record, Aida found her voice. She asked anxiously "Can someone tell me what's going on here please?"
"Well, Miss Gonzalez. This...," Detective Hudson points to the packet he was holding with gloved hands, "is first grade cocaine. It's one kg and it's worth about two million US dollars on the street. Now you wouldn't mind telling me how you came into possessions of it?"
The world seems to swim around her. For a moment she thought she was going to faint. Cold sweats poured out from her skin. She could only shake her head. "I...I... don't know..." she choked on her words.
"It was in your locker..."
Greg rushed forward to try and defend her. "Hey, just because you found it in her lockers doesn't confirm it's hers. Someone could have planted it there to sabotage her or someone could have misplaced it there?!"
Sonja sickening sweet voice came through before the Detective could say anything. "Now why would someone want to sabotage her? Not that she is well known. Besides she IS from Mexico and we all know how well off she is? She would probably think the fastest way to make money is by selling some drugs. I mean look, how much can a small time actress like her earn?" Sonja was positively trying to kill Aida so to speak.
Before Greg could rebuke, Detective Hudson put up his hand. "Ok, that's enough and who are you?" he asked Greg.
"Johnson, Greg Johnson. I am her friend."
"Now don't make a scene, no pun intended. We have to bring Miss Gonzalez down to the office for questioning and I am afraid to say you might have to be in the lock-up as this is no small amount. It's one whole kg," he stressed emphasizing the amount. "I'm afraid in this case Miss Gonzalez is guilty until proven innocent."
He next turned to the director, "You will understand that everyone here will be asked to give statements and their utmost cooperation. So I don't want anyone going or leaving until all statements are recorded down." The director could only nod numbly at him.
Sonja on the other hand wasn't going to let this go that easily. "Huey, this is all your fault for hiring on third world citizens! Don't get me involved. I've got my reputations to take care of!" With a huff and a fluff, she walked out of the dressing room.
"Peachy isn't she?" Detective Hudson grimaced. Huey the director could only shrug in resignation. "Ok, let's go Miss Gonzalez." The police officers bundled her off.
Aida was numb. No, this is just a play. Which part was that? And what act? Her befuddled mind screamed. Oh my god! I forgot my line! What's my line?
